1977 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
| Teams | 5 |
|---|---|
| Finals Site | |
| Champions | Wisconsin (2nd title) |
| Runner-Up | Michigan (9th title game) |
| Semifinalists |
|
| Winning coach | Bob Johnson (2nd title) |
| MOP | Julian Baretta Wisconsin |
| Attendance | 25,694 |
The 1977 NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 1976–77 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, the 30th such tournament in NCAA history. It was held between March 20 and 26, 1977, and concluded with Wisconsin defeating Michigan 6-5 in overtime. The first round game were held at the home team venue while all succeeding games were played at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.
For the first time the tournament was expanded beyond 4 teams. The NCAA selection committee granted themselves the ability to add an additional 4 teams to the tournament beyond the two tournament finalists from both the ECAC and WCHA.
The NCAA gave four teams automatic bids into the tournament. The two ECAC teams that reached the ECAC tournament final received bids as did the two WCHA teams that reached their tournament championship. The NCAA also had the ability to add up to 4 additional teams as it saw fit and chose to include the CCHA tournament champion as well.
The four automatic qualifiers were seeded according to pre-tournament finish. The ECAC champion was seeded as the top eastern team while the WCHA champion was given the top western seed. The second eastern seed was slotted to play the top western seed and vice versa. Because an at-large bid was offered to a western school they were placed in a first round game with the second western seed to determine the final semifinalist. The first round game was played at the home venue of the second seed while all succeeding games were played at the Olympia in Detroit, Michigan. All matches were Single-game eliminations with the semifinal winners advancing to the national championship game and the losers playing in a consolation game.
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